SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Feb 4 (Reuters) - Republican Sarah Palin said on Friday an explosion of government spending and debt under President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats had put the United States on "the road to ruin."

In a tribute to former President Ronald Reagan, the potential 2012 White House contender said leaders in Washington had lost sight of the values that made Reagan a Republican icon and a hero to conservatives -- a belief in limited government, low taxes and personal freedoms.

"This is not the road to national greatness, it is the road to ruin," Palin said of the growth in government spending, budget deficits, joblessness and housing foreclosures under Obama. "The federal government is spending too much, borrowing too much, growing and controlling too much," she said.

Palin said Obama had revived the era of big government, and she ridiculed the infrastructure spending and investment he outlined in his recent State of the Union speech.

"The only thing these investments will get us is a bullet train to bankruptcy," the 2008 vice presidential candidate said in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, California, part of two days of festivities marking the late president's 100th birthday.

Reagan served two terms as president beginning in 1981, and his belief in limited government, reduced taxes and military strength has been the dominant political doctrine of his Republican Party ever since.

His legacy gained new momentum in the last year with the growth of the conservative grassroots Tea Party movement, which has focused on a push for limited government and reduced government spending.

Like virtually all Republican Party leaders, Palin and many of the other possible Republican candidates to unseat Obama go to great lengths to stress their belief in Reagan's principle.

But Palin said the Republican search for the next Reagan would never be successful. "He was one of a kind," she said.

That speech brought Reagan, a Hollywood actor, to the attention of conservatives and helped catapult him to two terms as California governor and eventually to the White House.

She said the speech, which warned of the dangers of big government and Democratic President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" social programs, was still relevant. "We are at a crossroads," she said, "and this is a time of choosing."

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RK:D

Roger Perry

02-05-2011, 05:02 PM

We were on that road to ruin long before Obama took office. Palin even said during the 2008 Presidential race we were headed for a depression and only John McCain could keep us from going there.--------- Well, we are not in a depression now are we????????????????

BonMallari

02-05-2011, 05:19 PM

Palin is good at getting the right fired up and the left pizzzed off...but sooner or later she needs to put up or shut up...She isnt saying anything profound that is groundbreaking and needs to come up with solutions instead of the bomb throwing...Seems like in light of the anniversary of Reagan's 100th birthday celebration everyone on the right wants to be cloaked in the mantra of being the true conservative, when in reality the Republican Party itself needs to move back to its roots and have a candidate that exemplifies what the majority of the party wants